Ascenso y crisis : Europa 1950-2017: un camino incierto

After the horrors of the first half of the 20th century, which Ian Kershaw described in his previous book as a “descent into hell,” the years from 1950 to 2017 brought peace and prosperity to most of Europe. Enormous economic improvements transformed the continent, and the catastrophic period of the world wars seemed to be receding. Europe was then a divided continent, and the fate of Europeans was shaped by the whims of the Cold War and subject to the insecurity bred by the nuclear threat. In a complex evolution of rises and falls, there was also the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the disappearance of dictatorships, and the reunification of Germany. But accelerated globalization brought new fragilities, and the impact of the intertwined crises after 2008 was the clearest warning yet for Europeans that there were no guarantees of peace and stability. In this extraordinary book, Ian Kershaw has created a sweeping panorama of the world we live in, prompting us to rethink Europe and what it means to be European. Rise and Fall, along with Descent into Hell, is what Harold Evans has described as a work of epic proportions that "connects us with the great issues of our time."